Volkswagen said a few days ago that the company’s production capacity for electric vehicles in the US and European markets in 2022 has been “basically sold out”.
Volkswagen Chief Executive Herbert Diess said the company had “essentially sold out its electric vehicle capacity in Europe and the U.S.” this year. That means all consumers looking to buy a Volkswagen-branded electric car may have to wait until 2023, as the company grapples with production issues caused by chip shortages, among other things.
VW expects the backlog of orders to continue to grow as many users wait to buy electric vehicles, according to reports. But persistent supply chain issues keep electric vehicles in short supply. Chip shortages have forced nearly all automakers to halt or slow production. Some companies even cut some features of the car in order to increase production capacity. In addition, the batteries needed for electric vehicles are not easy to build.
Volkswagen reportedly sold nearly 100,000 electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2022. Tesla’s latest financial report shows that it sold about 310,000 vehicles in the same period.
Volkswagen isn’t the only automaker failing to meet consumer demand for electric vehicles. Ford’s electric pickup F-150 Lightning’s official website stated that “the current model is no longer accepting retail orders”, and the company stopped accepting consumer reservations for electric pickups in December last year.
But different automakers face different situations. As far as Volkswagen is concerned, there are absolutely no electric cars to sell at the moment. And Ford could at least sell another electric car, the Mustang Mach-E.
Earlier this year, Diess said in an interview that the company was working to expand its presence in the U.S. market. He said at the time that VW’s growth in the U.S. market is expected to “mainly come from electric vehicles,” though he also acknowledged that the company may face tight supply throughout 2022.